French customs have stepped up border checks on British products entering the EU, causing heavy financial losses for one of the UK’s biggest mussel exporters.
Family-run business Offshore Shellfish had three of its four recent shipments rejected at the French border, forcing the company to destroy £150,000 worth of stock, a move its commercial director Sarah Holmyard described as ‘subjective and inconsistent’.
Although the mussels are grown on ropes in the sea in Lyme Bay, several miles off the coast of south Devon, they are sent to the Netherlands for processing and on to Belgium, where they are served in restaurants and supermarkets as part of the national dish moules-frites.
Despite tougher post-Brexit inspections on food products, the company has continued exporting most of its shellfish to the EU.
But since Sir Keir Starmer‘s ‘Brexit reset’ was announced – a deal shellfish producers had hoped would make trade easier – Ms Holmyard said the industry has faced a rise in border checks and rejections on the European side of the Channel, which she believes are ‘political’.
The company said all three rejected loads had to be destroyed at its expense, dealing a major financial blow.
The company said all three rejected loads of mussels had to be destroyed at its expense, dealing a major financial blow
Shellfish such as mussels, oysters, scallops, cockles and clams face particularly tough restrictions and can only be imported untreated if they come from top-quality ‘Class A’ waters. Offshore Shellfish’s farms qualify for that standard most of the year.
The ‘reset’ deal, announced in May between the UK Government and the EU, aims to remove the need for sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks altogether, but negotiations are not expected to conclude until 2027- a delay many in the industry say is far too long.
But Ms Holmyard said the only change since the reset was announced was a surge in the checks and rejections of stock at the border.
Ms Holmyard said: ‘The cited reason [for the rejection of two lorries] was that they hadn’t been properly washed. But they came out of clean water and they were washed.
‘I think, and I’m not alone in thinking this, that it is political.’
According to the Guardian, it is understood that the government is not aware of a significant increase in rejections of British goods of animal or plant origin entering the EU.
Offshore Shellfish, founded by Ms Holmyard’s father John, who has farmed mussels for 30 years, is now in talks with French officials to try to resolve the export issues.
After negotiations involving the company, its Dutch partners and the UK government, authorities in Boulogne-sur-Mer have agreed to interpret the rules more flexibly, though this has yet to be tested.
‘We’ve lost a lot of money in the last few weeks just on these failed loads and it’s not something we can continue to do,’ said Ms Holmyard.
The company is also concerned that it might lose its customers if repeated failed deliveries give it a reputation for being unreliable.
‘It’s a lot of food waste and live animal waste, at a time both nations [France and the UK] are meant to be looking at food security,’ she said.
The Daily Mail has approached French customs, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and the Foreign Office for comment.
